Community Corner

Nogales Street Grade Separation Moving Along

Officials broke ground on the $110.5 million project in May.

Construction crews are making progress on a railroad grade separation project on Nogales Street.

Officials broke ground on the $110.5 million project in May. The Alameda Corridor-East Construction Authority is overseeing the project, which authorities say is one of the most hazardous crossings in Los Angeles County.

This first phase includes widening Gale Avenue and Walnut Drive at Nogales. That portion of the project will take 12 to 18 months to complete, officials said.  Once that is finished, Nogales will be closed for about 18 months for the underpass and bridge construction.

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The project as a whole involves building a six-lane roadway underpass and a double-track railway bridge to separate Nogales from the railroad between San Jose Avenue and Gale Avenue/Walnut Drive North.

Every day, about 40 freight trains, 12 Metrolink commuter trains, and 42,680 cars and trucks use the crossing just north of the 60 freeway, according to data the Alameda Corridor-East provided.  The crossing is ranked No. 5 in the state for grade separation priority, a list based on congestion and the number of collisions. 

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The crossing had nine train-vehicle collisions recorded by the Federal Railroad Administration in the past 10 years, according to officials.

The Nogales underpass is one of several such projects the authority is constructing along the corridor the agency serves. Almost 60 percent of the containers from ports in the Los Angeles area travel inland along the corridor for delivery to destinations across the country, officials said. The ports handle 44 percent of the country’s containerized imports, 90 percent of California’s imports, and 75 of the state’s exports.

The authority has made safety and mobility improvements at 39 crossings in the cities of Diamond Bar, Walnut, Industry, El Monte, Montebello, Pomona, Pico Rivera, Rosemead, San Gabriel, West Covina, Temple City, and unincorporated Los Angeles County, officials said.

The agency has completed seven grade separation projects at Nogales Street (Industry/West Covina), Reservoir Street in Pomona, Ramona Boulevard (El Monte), East End Avenue (Pomona), Brea Canyon Road (Diamond Bar/Industry), Sunset Avenue (Industry), and Orange Avenue (Industry).





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